John Doe
by avatarjk137
Summary: A man wakes up in the forest near Celadon City with no memory. Follow him as he journeys to discover his true nature, and learn why Team Rocket is after him. Rated T for violence and language. No pairings, but contains some OCs.


**Hello. To those of you who don't know me, I'm avatarjk137, and I'm here to entertain you. Specifically, I'm here to entertain you with a Pokemon fanfiction. This is a new fandom to me, and I should warn you that I'll be drawing from both the anime and video game canons for this plot. It's also my first time writing a plot like this, with mystery and suspense as such a central element. Still, I hope the result will be enjoyable.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, Nintendo and Gamefreak do. I only own the contents of this story.  
**

**John Doe**

**Chapter 1**

**Life from Nothing**

**IMAGE CATALOG OPEN**

**FILE: HUMANS**

**FILTER: ADULT**

**FILTER: MALE**

**COMMAND: RANDOMIZE**

**SEQUENCE COMPLETE**

I woke suddenly, with a gasp. The sun was beating straight down on my face – it was late morning, almost noon. Inhaling the air deeply, I sat up and looked around. I was in a forest, a thick, temperate one. To be more precise, I was in a clearing most prominently featuring a shallow pond mostly covered with reeds and lilies. Judging by the temperature and the smells in the air, it must have been late spring, perhaps May. The sky was almost cloudless, and I was getting quite warm in the direct sunlight, so I stood and walked into the shade of a pine tree to think.

My legs seemed weak, unfamiliar to me, and my head was buzzing. There wasn't much animal life around – a Pidgeotto chirping in a tree, the drone of distant Beedrill, the soft snore of a planted Oddish – but it was enough to keep me from thinking in my addled state. I didn't know _where_ I was, I didn't know _what day _it was, I didn't know _what_ I had been doing, let alone why or how, I didn't know _who_…

I didn't know who I was. This realization hit me with the force of a freight train – obviously, I at least knew how serious an issue that was. If I didn't know who I was, I could – I couldn't – there were THINGS that could happen, or that couldn't happen, because I didn't know who I was! Huh… was I a wreck.

The pond caught my eye. I could check my reflection, and at least see what I looked like. Who knows, maybe I'd recognize the face. So I stumbled over to the water and leaned over, gently pushing water lilies out of the way to clear a spot for my reflection. Uh-oh. Nothing. I rubbed my forehead… wasn't there…? Hmm. Well, I could feel my face, so I obviously had one of those. It felt pretty normal for a person's… very normal, in fact. Jacket, T-shirt, jeans, sneakers – I was dressed normally as well, if perhaps a bit warm for this time of year.

The wind shifted, and I caught a whiff of motor oil. Maybe civilization was in that direction? I noticed there was actually a trail leading away from the clearing into the wind, a sort of rough, seldom-used nature trail. So I walked that way, putting one foot in front of the other. It became easier and easier as I walked, getting more used to my legs.

I'm not sure how far I walked – it couldn't have been longer than twenty minutes. Soon I came across a person, which was a welcome change. He was a boy of the Bug Catcher bent, short and wearing a straw hat and galoshes. He was trying to catch a Venomoth, using a combination of his own Beedrill and a butterfly net, but he wasn't doing very well. Maybe if he stopped trying to use Poison Sting on it…

"Hello?" I asked rather urgently, distracting the boy. He missed his swing on the Venomoth, and it blasted his Beedrill with Confusion before flying deeper into the forest.

"You surprised me, and it got away!" he yelled at me.

"Oh, don't worry," I assured him hastily. "I don't think you were going to get it anyway." He didn't seem very reassured, but I was too flustered myself to wonder why. "How do I look to you?"

He was rather taken aback by the question. "What? You look fine… I guess?"

"No, no, I mean, what are my features? What do I look like?"

"You… have black hair, blue eyes… What kind of question is that? Are you crazy?"

"Probably not. Is there anything on my forehead?"

"No! Get away from me!"

"Alright." I continued on my way. Strange… one thing I distinctly remembered was having a red… something on my head. Alright, maybe it wasn't distinct.

"Wait!" he called. "Scratch that thought!"

"Okay, but I don't think I can."

He blinked, but quickly recovered. "I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't think I'm a Pokémon trainer."

"You don't _think?"_ the child sneered. "Forget you."

"I already have," I confessed, and left. Another five or ten minutes of walking saw me out of the forest, and I found I was in a better place than I had hoped. A huge, gleaming city sprawled out in front of me, tall skyscrapers dead ahead and smaller buildings in a wide cluster all around them. Someone or something in this city was sure to be the key to regaining my memories.

Yes sir, things were looking up. Why, just on my way downtown, I had already found out the date from a television set in a window display (May 25th – I was right in my guess), and finding out where was easy enough – the first two signs I had passed by said 'Now leaving Route 7' and 'Celadon City: The City of Rainbow Dreams', respectively. I had been heading towards the center of the city for quite a while when I realized I didn't know exactly where I was going, but at that moment I saw a Poke Mart-brand convenience store. Okay; I could look around in there. Maybe something would jog my memory.

I walked into the store, and was immediately hit with a blast of cool air. The small store was lined with shelves advertising all sorts of goods in bright colors and bold lettering. There were various snacks and hygiene products, over-the-counter drugs and medicines, and Pokémon products galore. There was also a man with swept-back hair, a soul patch, and a sort of triangular face smiling at me over the counter. No other customers were in the store. "Hello, sir," he said smoothly. "Can I help you today?"

"Yes, maybe you can," I said hopefully. "I've lost something important, can you help me?"

He looked concerned. "Oh no. Did you lose it in the store?"

"No, I seriously doubt it."

"Um, okay. I think there's a lost and found at the police station."

"Thank you very much, sir."

"What did you lose?"

"My memory."

"… Oh, wow. Really? I've never met a real amnesiac before."

"Yeah, well…" I scratched my head. "I don't _remember _having an intact memory, but it's a pretty safe bet that I did. I woke up in the woods an hour or so ago, and I didn't know who I was. That's strange, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's really unusual. If it's your memory that's missing, you probably took a blow to the head or something. Maybe you should go to the hospital instead."

I became excited. "I didn't notice until now, but yeah, my head hurts. That's probably it! Thanks!"

"Yeah, no problem. Ooh…" he snapped his fingers. "The hospital for people's all the way across town. You're probably better off heading to the police station anyway, that's just three blocks from here. I'd call you an ambulance or something, but the phones went on the fritz a little while ago."

"Okay, thanks. Where's the police station?""

"Just head left on your way out until you reach the next street with a traffic light. Turn left again there, and it's a fairly large, blue building just a block or so down. If you can read, you can't miss it."

"Thanks again, sir! I like your chin."

"Just glad to help… you like _what?_" I heard him say as I left, the door chiming.

_What a nice guy,_ I thought to myself. _I wonder why the phones are out._ That's when I heard an explosion down the side street to the left of me, and decided to go that way and find out what caused it. I really should have gone straight to the police station instead; looking back, I chide myself for that one.

There appeared to be a Pokémon battle going on. On one side was a teal-haired woman in a blue uniform, and she was controlling two Growlithes with a certain level of expertise. On the other were several men in black jumpsuits and caps marked with a capital 'R', along with gloves and boots. Between them, the five or so had deployed a Houndour, a Zubat, and a Machoke, but they weren't as skilled. Even fighting three-on-two with no type disadvantages, they were barely making any headway at all. "What's going on?" I asked one of the two dozen or so standby.

"What, isn't it obvious?" the woman snorted. "Team Rocket's making trouble, so Officer Jenny's come to kick them out of town or throw them in jail! And those bastards deserve it – I've never seen the cowards out in force like this, showing their faces in broad daylight! Look at them, vandalizing random property, ganging up on Jenny!"

"What's Team Rocket been doing?" I asked anxiously, my eyes locked on the battle going on. Jenny was using one Growlithe to keep the most powerful Rocket pokemon – Machoke – reeling with strong attacks that disrupted the Machoke, like Fire Fang and Flamethrower. Meanwhile, the other Growlithe used mostly Roars, Leers, and the occasional evasive Agility to distract and soften up both the Houndour and the Zubat. Sound tactics; as a police officer, she was probably trained to battle under conditions like these.

"Shit!" one of the Rockets exclaimed, affirming my conclusions. "She's giving us a lot of trouble! Machoke! Ah… um… Karate Chop!"

"No worries, we're right at the target!" another replied, a slightly paunchy one who seemed a little older than the other four. He appeared to be holding some sort of handheld tracking device, but that was just a guess. It could have been an electronic map, or a PDA, possibly. He pointed the device in my general direction, and it started beeping. This was about the point where I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. Walking closer to the crowed, he pointed directly at me – and his tracker lit up like he had scored jackpot. "Found him!"

**End of Chapter**

**I'm not sure when I'll be able to update, but once I get back to the story, I plan to update once a week. Usually, I update Mondays. Next chapter, our hero attempts to escape from Team Rocket! But can he trust those who come to his aid?**

**By the way, I have a writer's tournament going on, A Winner Is Two. Writers take up control of characters from any canon and battle against each other, with only one character to be the last one standing. There will be a prize. It's already started, but I'm still accepting entries. There isn't much time left, so be sure to check it out soon!  
**


End file.
